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No. 625,582. I Patented May 23, I899.

. L. MATIGNON.

INFLATING ATTAGHIIENI FOR "FLOATS, M.

I (Application filed bet. I, 1696 (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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N0- 2 Patented May 23, I899.

L. MATIGNUN. INFLATING ATTACHMENT FUR FLUATS, 81.0.

(Application filed Oct. 1, .1896.)

- 2 Sheets-Shoal: 2

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAURENT MATIGNON, OF LA GARENNE-OOLOMBES, FRANCE.

INFLATING ATTACHMENT FOR FLOAT S, 80c

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,582, dated May 23, 1899.

Application filed October 1,1896. fierial No. 607,602. (No model.)

To OLZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAURENT ll/IATIGNON, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at La Garenne-Oolombes, in the said Republic, have invented a new and useful Improve ment in Inflating Attachments for Floats, of of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to obtain the automatic and instantaneous inflation of hollow collapsible and inflatable vessels or floats as soon as they are placed in the water for use.

The invention is especially applicable to apparatus such as life belts, buoys, and floats intended to sustain heavy bodies in the water or to raise them therein, maritime signals, &c.

It consists, essentially, in the combination, with the inflatable pocket or pockets of such apparatus, of a receiver for carbid of calcium or other appropriate carbid which operates in such manner that when the apparatus is put in the water for use the water penetrates into this receiver and by attacking the carbid produces an immediate disengagement of the acetylene, which is delivered into the pocket or pockets and instantly inflates them.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective View of a hollow and collapsible life-saving belt having an inflating attachment embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 represents a Vertical section of the inflating attachment on a larger scale than Fi 1.

The inflating attachment represented consists of a receiver A, furnished with a remov able cover A and divided into two unequal compartments a and a by a vertical perforated or grated partition B. The larger compartment or chamber a is furnished with an inclined bottom G, at the lower part of which is an evacuation-tube 0. Above this bottom 0 is an inner bottom D, slightly inclined and of which the lower part is pierced withnumerous holes. It is upon this inner bottom that the carbid is piled up. The smaller compartment a is terminated at the bottom by a water-inlet tube E. It communicates in its upper part by orifices FF with a lateral tube G, open at the bottom, closed at the top by a cover g, and furnished with a tube 9 to be connected with the tube H of the collapsible belt or float P, Fig. 1, to be inflated. The

tube G is divided into two compartments 9 and g by a partition G, pierced with holes G2 G The generator must be of such capacity that when charged and attached bya tube to a float, as shown in Fig. 1, and the float is placed in water the generator will be supported in the water with its bottom and a portion of its depth immersed. When the float with the generator thus charged and attached is placedin the water, the water enters by the tube E into the compartment a, whence it passes through the perforated partition B and arrives among the carbid, and so disengages acetylene, which, passing through the same partition, arrives in the compartment 61-, whenceit passes by the orifices F into the tube G and thence renders itself to the flloat by passing through the tube 9. The partition G opposes a certain resistance'to the passage of the gas, which facilitates the separation of the impurities and the moisture taken up with it, which are evacuated by the lower orifices G3 of the tube G. On the other hand, the residues proceeding from the decomposition of the carbid are evacuated at c. The removable cover 9 is simply fitted with some friction into the upper end of the compartment g of the tube G and permits the escape of the excess of gases by being blown oft by excesscarbid in advance in such manner that the 7 said device may always be ready for use and that it will only be necessary to throw it into the Water to start the disengagement of the gas, or, in other words, the tube g is always connected with the device which is to be inflated. In this case the orifices c E G and that of the tube 9 are kept closed in such manner as to protect the carbid from the action of moist air when the device is not in use. This closing may be effected by means of removable corks or stoppers.

It is hardly necessary to remark that the generator should be ballasted, if necessary, in such manner that it will always assume in the water. the position it should occupy therein to insure the disengagement of the gas under the best conditions. It will be understood that the dimensions of this generator vary according to the especial application for which it is intended-that is to say, with the volume of the gas to be furnished. They may be easily calculated according to the quantity of acetylene disengaged bya kilogram of carbid. In case the generator is applied to a life-saving belt two hundred grams of carbid about suffices to produce the inflation of the belt. It will thus be seen that the generator occupies Very little room.

Instead of applying the generator to a lifesaving belt or float it may be applied to buoys with a sufficient volume to sustain on the water one or more persons. These buoys may consist of one or more bags or inflatable vessels of any form furnished each with a generator of a volume corresponding with the capacity of the bag.

What I claim as my invention is* In an acetylene-generating attachment for inflating floats, the combination of a receiver having a removable cover and divided by an upright perforated partition B into two compartments, one of said compartments having a perforated inner bottom D and an inclined outer bottom 0 from which there is an outlet 0 and the other of said compartments having a water-inlet at its bottom, a lateral tube G in communication by lateral openings F with the latter compartment and having an outlet at its lower end, a partition G having openings G in said tube G, a gas outlet at the upper end of said tube on one side of its partition and a safety=va1ve g at the same end of said tube on the other side of said partition, all substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LAURENT MA'PIGNONl Witnesses:

EDWARD P. MACLEAN, ALOIDE FABE. 

